Frieda and Other Stuff

Her stage name is Flying Monkey.

 

Frieda was made to jump and climb. She has the largest flap of under-belly skin I have seen on a cat. As a Public Service Announcement, I think I should say be wary of stray kittens who show up at your door saying let me in. They aren't your run-of-the-mill kitty cats. And....please excuse the fibrous material on the screens. It is a constant battle, one I've almost given in to.

Now, onto the exciting stuff. I got the entire lawn mowed over three days. Yay, me! Mark got two overgrown flower beds weeded. Then it rained all night, but I can say, let it rain. It is Monday, so the washing machine is spinning as I type. We will have another week of clean cloths. I know I had plans for today besides laundry but it seems my mind has erased them. Not kidding. I don't remember what I had planned. I think my brain has become lazy.

And Then This Happened......

Rain. Lots of it. Last evening. 

No complaints. After a couple of years of drought I certainly welcome rain. It is what has kept the lawn a jungle, but this is better than the maybe twice I mowed the lawn last year. I got only about a quarter of it mowed yesterday. It was in the mid 80s F yesterday with full sun. I became over-heated and stopped. There is over an acre I mow and since I need to have the mower on a low speed, because of my back, it takes two/three days for me to finish. You can see in the photo someone (me) has not graded the driveway. So much to do, so little mojo to do it with. I doubt it will dry enough to mow this afternoon, but we will wait and see.

In the mean time, I guess I'll make bread.

Cats. Lawn. Raccoon.

She knows she is cute.

Today is the day I finally tackle the jungle formally known as a lawn. Rain has cut off any plans I had of mowing before today. It is going to take a few days, this I know. Too bad I can't fence it and let the horses mow for me. 

The once thin stray orange tabby is still hanging around and isn't thin anymore. He and Rocky the Raccoon have been enjoying the cat food I put on the porch. Rocky stares through the door if the dish is empty. It's a good thing he grew up with cats, he presents no danger to them. I thought he would move on once he was grown, but the cat food buffet has kept him grounded here. 

That's the excitement here. 

On the Road Again

Aren't they cute?

Yesterday was busy. We were gone all morning and into late afternoon for a medical procedure for Mark. This was the day I wrote about dreading, as I hadn't driven for three years and had to be on a very busy interstate. Those who said it would come right back were correct. I had only one short practice drive beforehand and yet I had no problems. Coming home was a busy, busy drive, but I was fine. This afternoon we have a follow up appointment at the same place. It's about an hour from home. The Twin Cities is a sprawling metropolitan area, so depending on where you are going it can be a long drive. Tomorrow I wait for Culligan Man. Our reverse osmosis system isn't flowing well. After that is done I need to get to the mowing. The place looks abandoned.

 

 

The Sweet Smell of Lilacs

I was given a vase of lilacs on Saturday from a bush they had planted. The aroma is wonderful.

I had plans to mow the lawn yesterday. That didn't happen. It was hot and I was unmotivated. I did manage to make pizza dough and then in the evening the pizza. I often use prosciutto or speck, Italian cured ham, on pizza. It's paper thin and crisps well. I used the remaining tomato sauce I'd made for the meatballs as a base on the crust. That worked well and was good use of a leftover. My husband is very food centric, I'll lead with that to say, he told me as he is eating his messy pizza that he hit the jackpot when he married me. It's amazing how food erases all the years of a difficult me! Oh, I just bought another horse, here, have steak. I think I'll move to Atlanta, here's some lasagna. He is a saint. Don't tell him I said that.

It's laundry day, I also have tentative plans for some mowing in the afternoon. I do need to do it, it's a jungle out there. 

Here and Now. Long Ago.

Okay....I do not photograph well, especially selfies. Something I inherited from my mother. As I wrote a few days ago, I have lost sixty pounds over the last two years. The health benefits are worth the effort and some of the less positive results. Old skin sags under the best of circumstances. Old skin that has been stretched by too much weight sags even more. Lets just say there is a lot of drooping going on around here.

Because I have no shame, a photo of me at twenty-three looking duh. This was not too long before I separated from husband # 1. I married too young. I won't get into the family dynamics which played a large roll in that happening, the reality is.... it did. 

 

Because it's Mothers Day, a very grainy photo of young me hours after baby boy was born. Now he is a fifty year old man. I am surprised I did as well raising him as I did. I know being me was sometimes difficult for him, especially his young teen years. I was not your run-of-the-mill mother. He asked me once why I couldn't be like all the other mothers. All I could tell him was because I'm not like all the other mothers. He turned out well, despite, and because of me. Of course, Mark played a role later on.

I am a bit melancholy this morning. Not sad, just reminiscing. We had a very, very nice time with son and his wife yesterday. I asked him how it felt to be fifty. He said good. I told him I thought that was probably the best decade of my life, overall. He thinks it will be for him. I hope so.

Happy Day to all the mothers out there. 

Cameras

I know, another ta-da photo of a cleaning accomplishment, but this time there is a dual purpose. The first photo is taken with an iPhone and the second with my early 2000s Canon DSL, which I have not used in at least a dozen years. Since I got my first iPhone, whenever that was. I used to know how to use it, now I was lucky to figure out how to turn it on. I have the manual somewhere. I need to look at it. There is no reason not to use the camera.

 

If I were an actual photographer I would not have let the camera sit for so long, but I'm not, I am basically point and shoot with a nice camera. Or, I was.

It's a beautiful day, I have things to do and here I am, messing around with a camera. Ah, well. Life is short, sometimes we just need to mess around.

More Food

Yesterday was early morning rain and then gloomy the rest of the day. It did reach 70 F even though overcast. It was still a good day for soup, so that's what I did in the morning. Make soup for lunch. I had turkey stock from Thanksgiving in the freezer and thought it was about time I used it.

Boud and Lori both made spaghetti and meatballs (Boud's were plant-based balls) a few days ago. It made me crave this delicious delight, so I finally got around to making it for last evening's dinner. It did not disappoint. So, another post with food photos. In between making both meals I did get a bit of work done in the house. Just a bit, but it's better than nothing. The piano and the center island both were polished with beeswax. I love that stuff. So does the wood.

It's a pretty day, sun shining and warm. I'm going to attempt to concentrate on sprucing up the house in anticipation of son and wife visiting on Saturday. I've decided to make a pasta salad using an olive oil dressing for the vegan. Mark picked up some Talenti sorbet for desert. I have trouble remembering if it's sherbet or sorbet that is dairy and egg-free. It's sorbet. That problem is solved.

Sunday started out with making a loaf of bread.

It ended with making a sort of stroganoff with leftover flank steak, cream and Worcestershire sauce.

In between I mowed part of the lawn. Talk about a jungle out there. We've had a lot of rain, causing a burst of growth and also an inability to mow said growth. Phlox and weeds are competing with one another for garden takeover. The iris and lilies cannot even begin to put-up a fight. I plan to finish mowing today, in the afternoon when it's dry enough and my Monday (mundane?) laundry duty is finished. 

The son and wife are coming here on Saturday for lunch. I'm planning a pasta salad with an olive oil dressing to accommodate the vegan. I'll need to do a little fluffing inside the house to make it visitor acceptable. With tomorrows expected rain there won't likely be any weeding. We have the worst soil known to humankind.....black clay. Until moving here I had no idea such a thing existed. Saint Paul is on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, this has some relevance to the wonderful sandy loam I was used to. This stuff, boot sucking, tendon popping when it's wet, hard as cement when it's not. Weeding has a short window, not when it's soaked, but don't let it dry. Trials and tribulations.

The sun is shining, the washer is washing and I am grumping. Happy day everyone.

Meow

Don't we know it.

 Happy Sunday!